Learn English Phrases – Have what it takes

Hello students, this is Shayna, your teacher at Espressoenglish.net and the phrase I want to teach you today is, “she’s got what it takes.” If you say someone has what it takes, or has got what it takes this means that person has the skills, intelligence, personality and persistence that are necessary in order to do something.

For example, let’s say there’s a woman named Cathy who is running for President in your country; she’s trying to be elected President in the upcoming elections. Cathy is very well educated in sociology and foreign policy and she’s also very charismatic; people like her and she’s diplomatic; she’s good at having good relationships with other people.

Seeing all these skills and Cathy’s personality, you could say, “She’s got what it takes to become President.” This means she has the necessary qualities.

Here’s another example: let’s say there’s a martial arts competition and you see one guy who you think is very talented, very fast and who has the potential to win. You could say “He’s got what it takes to win this competition.”

Now, you can also say the opposite; that someone doesn’t have what it takes or hasn’t got what it takes. This means that person lacks the necessary skills, intelligence and other qualities to accomplish that thing. For example, let’s say that at one point in your life you were interested in becoming a professional chef, so you went to culinary school in order to train.

Well, while you were in school you got some experience in a professional kitchen inside a restaurant and you just found it too crazy. You weren’t good at cooking in such a high pressure environment and you didn’t enjoy it at all. Then you could say, “I guess I just don’t have what it takes to become a professional chef.” This means I don’t have the necessary qualities to accomplish that.

So, have you got what it takes to become fluent in English? Of course you do! Everybody can become fluent. You don’t need to be a genius; you just need to have persistence and dedication.

Thanks for joining me for another February phrases video and I’ll be back tomorrow with more spoken English expressions. See you next time!

You’ll learn hundreds of conversational English expressions in this course: